Etiquette for sharing road with bicyclists et al?

Cyclists think they own the road.

Until runners start paying taxes, they need to stay off my roads.

Recumbent bike rider = pretentious.

Cyclists are wonderful, genteel, and conscientious athletes.

People who ride recumbents are caustic, aggressive, and broken down ne'er do wells who only want to spread their bitterness to the rest of society.

You did nothing wrong.

You were quite right.

The cyclist is basically like a car. They go with traffic and should stay to the right of their lane. But if a car was coming towards you, they move over a little bit. If a cyclist (or pompous over sized recumbant) comes at you, they also move over to the left just a little bit.

Next time you see them, hold your line. If it gets bad, chuck your used gu packets at them.

I say all this as a person who spent 10 years racing bikes.

While I mostly agree with the previous replies, let me give a slightly different perspective (and I, too, am both a runner and a cyclist).

I generally run on roads, usually on the paved shoulder on the other side of the white line and usually facing traffic. When a cyclist riding with traffic approaches me, I can see the traffic approaching us but he cannot. So if it is safe I will move out into the car lane, allowing the cyclist to stay on the non-traffic side of the white line.

Of course if it's not safe for me to move out into the car lane I instead squeeze as far to the side away from traffic as possible to give the cyclist room to pass by without having to ride out into the traffic lane.

Does this make sense?

So one cyclist one time yelled four words to one runner in one tight spot on one road. Got it. Thanks.

When cars, bikes, and runners share a road, the runner has the easiest ability to step out of the way. The cyclist is the one caught in the middle and therefore the most vulnerable since he's closest to vehicles. If the cyclist has to dodge a pedestrian into the path of a car, it's bad news. The pedestrian can step onto rough ground, whether sloped or uneven or whatever. The cyclist doesn't have that option or else he can crash. Simple solution: don't run in the bike path. Everyone needs to share the road. Don't be a road hog.

amkelley wrote:

While I mostly agree with the previous replies, let me give a slightly different perspective (and I, too, am both a runner and a cyclist).

I generally run on roads, usually on the paved shoulder on the other side of the white line and usually facing traffic. When a cyclist riding with traffic approaches me, I can see the traffic approaching us but he cannot. So if it is safe I will move out into the car lane, allowing the cyclist to stay on the non-traffic side of the white line.

Of course if it's not safe for me to move out into the car lane I instead squeeze as far to the side away from traffic as possible to give the cyclist room to pass by without having to ride out into the traffic lane.

Does this make sense?

Then this happens:

Pedestrians travel against traffic, as far to the left side as practicable.

Cyclists should travel with traffic as far to the right as practicable, and yield to any oncoming pedestrians.

Motorists should travel in their lane, yield to any oncoming pedestrians and slower vehicles (including bicycles) that they are overtaking.

I hate cyclists so much

kimani wrote:

I hate cyclists so much

You seem like a rational, educated human being.

You're fine. Cyclists are knobs to begin with, and someone that rides a recumbent is inevitably worse. I don't even run many trails here anymore, as mountain bikers go down the mountain at 20-30mph. They are not looking for you, and have no idea of etiquette (horse>pedestrian>biker). Instead of fighting one, I just go run dirt roads. Kind of a shame, honestly. I agree that cyclists are a cancer.

Cyclists are a strange bunch. I feel like they have hair trigger tempers, but maybe they have to deal with a lot more crap than runners have to deal with. The other day, I was running on a bike trail against traffic (as they teach you in boyscouts), I kept checking behind me every so often to see if anything was coming up on me. Eventually I noticed a cyclist and I started to check more frequently just to make sure I was completely out of his way. He passes me and has the audacity to yell at me, "you really should be on the right side of the trail". Agree to disagree, but I will keep my head running against traffic.

A little over a year ago, I was running with a friend, and we were both occupying the right lane of the bike trail (running with traffic, i adopt different etiquette when with another runner or group), and we are both clearly over the striped line. A cyclist comes barreling towards us and about 100m out starts shouting about how we're hogging the road. We weren't even in his lane! WTF cyclists?

here you go wrote:

When cars, bikes, and runners share a road, the runner has the easiest ability to step out of the way. The cyclist is the one caught in the middle and therefore the most vulnerable since he's closest to vehicles. If the cyclist has to dodge a pedestrian into the path of a car, it's bad news. The pedestrian can step onto rough ground, whether sloped or uneven or whatever. The cyclist doesn't have that option or else he can crash. Simple solution: don't run in the bike path. Everyone needs to share the road. Don't be a road hog.

Although I was offended by the cyclists in both of my examples, I have also thought this same idea. I expect walkers to get out of my way because they are more maneuverable. They can take a simple side step to get out of my way whereas I have considerable more momentum. I definitely agree that the cyclist is not as agile nor as maneuverable as I am, so I do give them a little more leniency in how much room I will concede to allocate to them.

kimani wrote:

I hate cyclists so much

You know how you as a runner "hates cyclists"? Drivers hate you as a runner. "Get out of my way or I'll mow you down."

If you are on a trail and not a road with vehicles then you should be on the right side.

Pedestrians have priority over bicycles.

^This. Also should try to avoid running side-by-side on crowded trails.

He probably wanted to ride on the line due to the lower rolling friction there. You slowed him down.